WHEELER – Wellington had waited a calendar year to get their opportunity at revenge after being blanked by Wheeler in a district championship game.
History didn’t repeat itself. On a soggy night at Nicholson Field, the Skyrockets gained its retribution in a dominating way blasting past the Mustangs 28-7 on Friday night.
The convincing win puts Wellington at 7-1 on the year but more importantly 3-0 in league play and the outright District 2-5A Division II champions.
“I’m so happy for this team,” Wellington head coach Greg Proffitt said. “This group wanted it so bad. It’s never easy to play Wheeler, and it’s not easy to play at Wheeler. We remembered last year and what they did to us. This was a night where the weather was a challenge but we ran the ball so great that never was an issue.”
The loss snaps Wheeler’s 13-game regular season win streak and drops the Mustangs to 7-1 on the year and 2-1 in district. Wheeler is locked in as the No. 2-seed out of the league.
Wellington punished Wheeler in all aspects. The Skyrockets totaled 369 total yards with 240 of those coming from a punishing run attack. The Skyrocket defense stifled the Mustangs, holding Wheeler to two first downs in the first half and 144 total yards on the night.
“I feel we won this game in the trenches,” Proffitt said. “Wheeler wanted to run the ball and limited that and took it away from them. We dialed in on defense and then offensively, we’ve been running the same offense since these guys were in seventh grade. Everyone executed and rose to the occasion.”
The Wellington offensive line took over on the second drive. Quarterback Callen Kane led a march right down the field that resulted in a toss sweep to Cix Killian from 8-yard touchdown run putting Wellington up 6-0 to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Wellington went back to work. With the ball at the Mustang 40-yard line, Kane went deep down the sideline to a leaping Kamron Brooks, who pulled down the catch inside the Mustang 5-yard line. That set up a Kane keeper from 2-yards out as the Skyrockets extended the advantage at 14-0 following a 2-point conversion.
That was the score going into halftime. Wheeler did have a glimmer of hope in the third when quarterback Israel Andrade hit a 30-yard slant to Bryce Hill, cutting the deficit to 14-7 at the 6:59 mark of the third quarter, but that’s as close as Wheeler could get.
Wellington answered on the next two possessions with touchdowns from Kane on a 3-yard scoot and Killian with his second TD of the night on a 4-yard run.
“Callen (Kane) ran very tough and his line gave him holes to run through and time to throw when he needed to,” Proffitt said. “Every running back got carries and made an impact. Everyone blocked for one another and everyone was in on tackles. We needed a game like this and we got it.”
Kane finished his night going 8-of-10 through the air for 129 yards and ran for 89 yards with a pair of scores. Killian added 42 yards on eight carries with two touchdowns and Brooks snagged four catches for 70 yards.
Andrade led Wheeler with 97 yards passing but was limited to 20 yards rushing.
Photo gallery by Carter Pirtle:
